In daily life, there are many opportunities to input passwords. For example, a user needs to input a corresponding password in a device such as a bank self-service terminal, a point of sale (POS) machine, and an online bank. The corresponding password may include a bank account password, a mobile phone password, a bank card password, an e-mail box login password, etc. The password generally includes multiple characters, and the characters may be a numeral, a letter, a character, or a symbol. The character may include a Chinese character, a Japanese character, etc. The symbol may include a punctuation mark. Generally, inputting a user password includes inputting the password on a keyboard of a fixed password input device or inputting the password on a screen of a device terminal. Along with the development of network technologies, the user has an increasing demand for inputting a password on a screen of a device terminal. For example, the user needs to input a password on a screen of a mobile phone.
Existing methods of displaying a password input interface may include the following.
One is a method using a general input method interface, which specifically includes calling a general input method when a user needs to input a password, and inputting a user password on an interface of the general input method. For example, the user password is input by calling a general input method such as Sougou input method and Baidu™ input method. Generally, since there are many characters, the general input method distributes different types of characters on different input interfaces. For example, letters may be input on an English input interface, numerals may be input on a numeral input interface, and symbols may be input on a symbol input interface. When the password of the user includes at least two of a letter, a character, a numeral, and a symbol, the user inputs the password by switching among input interfaces.
The other is a method using an input method interface built in specific software, which specifically includes calling a software built-in input method when the user needs to input a password, and inputting the password of the user on an input interface of the software built-in input method. For example, when a client terminal needs to input a password of a certain bank card, the password may be input by calling a built-in input method in the client terminal software of the bank. Similar to the general input method, the built-in input method may distribute different types of characters on different input interfaces. A distribution of the input interface of the built-in input method and that of the general input method may be different.
The existing techniques have at least the following problems:
Different types of terms usually exist in a user password, and when a user inputs the password by using an input interface of the above-mentioned two password input interface display methods, it is necessary to switch among input interfaces of various types of terms, thus making the operation complicated.